NOTRE DAME, Ind. - Sophomore Ryan Hoff (Baldwin, Md./Dulaney) scored a game-high five goals as the 13th-ranked Notre Dame men's lacrosse team cruised to a 15-5 win over Villanova in non-conference action on Tuesday afternoon at Moose Krause Stadium. Junior Michael Podgajny (Ridley Park, Pa./Ridley) registered a career-best seven points on three goals and four assists to help the Irish to their third straight victory.

Notre Dame (6-3) opened the contest with five unanswered goals and Villanova could never fully recover. Podgajny put the Irish on the board just over three minutes into the contest as he took a pass from Lucius Polk (Washington, D.C./St. Albans) and scored a man-up goal. The Irish, who have now won 10 consecutive home games dating back to last season, went 6-of-7 in man-up opportunities on the day.

Freshman Grant Krebs (Annapolis, Md./St. Mary's) made it 2-0 in favor of Notre Dame when he scored off a feed from Alex Wharton (Baltimore, Md./Gilman School). Podgajny then assisted Hoff on back-to-back goals in a span of 20 seconds to give the Irish a 4-0 cushion after the first quarter. The surge extended as Peter Christman (Simsbury, Conn./Westminster School) found the back of the net early in the second quarter to make it 5-0 in favor of the home team.

Villanova (4-4) scored four of the game's next five goals to cut the deficit to two at 6-4. Andy German and Chris MacDonald started the run for the Wildcats with scores before Polk put the Irish back up by four (6-2) with a man-up goal. Villanova kept battling behind consecutive tallies from Jay Foley. The Irish regained the momentum going into halftime as Brian Hubschmann (Short Hills, N.J./Delbarton) netted a man-up goal of a pass from Podgajny with 5:47 remaining in the opening half to give Notre Dame a 7-4 lead at the intermission.

It would be all Notre Dame in the second half as the Fighting Irish went on an 8-1 run to close out the contest. Polk netted another man-up tally, off a Will Yeatman (San Diego, Calif./Rancho Bernardo) pass, before Podgajny and Hoff would notch scores to make it 10-4 with 5:35 remaining in the third quarter. Wharton collected the assist on Hoff's third goal of the game.

The Wildcats' lone score of the second half came at the 2:45 mark of the third period as German deposited his second goal of the contest.

Notre Dame concluded the game with a 5-0 run that began with Podgajny's third goal of the game, which was a man-up tally off a pass from Hubschmann. Yeatman assisted on Hoff's fourth goal of the afternoon with four seconds left in the third quarter and then sophomore Davey Leach (Timonium, Md./Boys' Latin) sent in a blast from deep with less than one second remaining for the first goal of his Fighting Irish career to make it 13-5.

Yeatman found the back of the net off a feed from Podgajny before Hoff finished the scoring as he sent home a shot on an assist from John Greaney (Babylon, N.Y./Babylon). Hoff, who tied a Notre Dame record with seven goals earlier this season against Drexel, has a team-best 22 goals. Yeatman leads the Irish in points with 29 and assists with 13.

Junior goaltender Joey Kemp (Potomac, Md./Georgetown Prep) earned the win for the Irish as he made seven saves in 51:12 of action. Sophomore Scott Rodgers (Wantagh, N.Y./Wantagh) came on in relief of Kemp and made four saves without surrendering a goal. Andrew DiLoreto picked up the loss for the Wildcats as he allowed 13 goals and made five saves in 45 minutes of play.

The Irish return to action when they host Great Western Lacrosse League rival Air Force on Friday, April 13 at 5:00 p.m. at Moose Krause Stadium. Note the time change since the game was originally scheduled to begin at 4:00 p.m.

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